Not As Black As It Seems
by JemmadA
Summary: My take on Fred and George finding out who the Marauders really are. OoTP compliant. One-Shot


Disclaimer: **_I do not own Harry Potter!_**

**_A/N: I've had this one-shot roughly written for quite some time and I've finally found the time to fix it and publish it :)_  
><em>Enjoy, read &amp; review! <em>**

**Not As Black As It Seems  
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"No way, Mum!" a seventeen year old Fred Weasley exclaimed loudly, horrified at the sight of the dark and dusty room he and his brother were going to share for the whole summer.

"This is even worse than the Slytherin common room!" he added, looking positively revolted at the serpent-shaped door-knob.

George snickered and glanced at his mother, who had suddenly turned suspicious.

"What do you mean Slytherin dorms?" Molly Weasley asked dangerously. "How have you ever managed to get in there?"

"It was years ago..." Fred said lightly.

"Didn't you care about the risks of being caught, losing points and getting a detention?" Molly asked appalled.

"George and I were curious –" replied Fred.

" – We were very young back then –" continued George.

"I don't want to know," Molly cut across them irritated. She looked inside the room with a disgusted expression not so unlike her sons.

"Get in there and start cleaning," she said briskly. "Count yourselves lucky you both can use magic now."

"But this is a dump!" Fred muttered glancing at the cob-webbed candelabra and the black imposing furniture.

"This is going to be your home for the summer, boys," Molly replied unhappily. "I'm sorry but your father and I want to help Dumbledore and the Order as much as we can," she then added with a sigh. "I'm sure you both can understand."

"Yes, Mum," the twins said, their usual air of mischief suddenly gone. Molly sighed again while descending the old creaking stairs, lost in her thoughts.

"Well Fred, I think we should stop complaining and get the most out of the situation," George said to his twin while entering the dingy room.

"What do you mean?" asked Fred perplexed.

"This house is a free source of the most disgusting and rare magical ingredients, Fred. So I'd say –"

" – let's experiment!" they concluded together.

...

It was a quiet dinner for the Weasley family that night. It was their first meal away from the Burrow and no one seemed willing to start a conversation. Ron had exchanged a few words about Harry with Sirius while Remus Lupin had struck a short conversation with Mr Weasley but no one else had seemed remotely in the mood of talking more than a few minutes to each other.

Sirius, visibly frustrated of being inside his parent's house – his house – once again, hadn't behaved like the proper host yet.

For Molly and Arthur, the sudden fight with Percy, happened a few days previously, had put another burden on their backs and they both seemed rather shocked by it still. They had not talked about it and ignored most of the questions asked, yet Molly had a permanent look of desperate grief on her face.

Remus Lupin had been calm and quiet, like his usual self. Yet, only the few who had known him well could see the effect that having people around had on him. He knew they were living in dangerous times, yet he felt included, he felt appreciated once again.

Ron had been unusually subdued. Everyone knew that what happened to Harry during the Third Task had affected him. And everyone knew he had been constantly waiting for Harry's or Hermione's letters every morning since he'd come home for the holidays.

Ginny, instead, had behaved quite positively despite the fact she was surrounded by her family, an ex-Professor and an ex-convict. In truth she couldn't wait for Bill to join them in a few days. _He was fun._

Fred and George, their usual selves, were whispering something to each other at one end of the table. They seemed excited and slightly uncaring of the sombre mood hanging in the room. That didn't definitely go unnoticed by their mother.

"Your sons say their bedroom is worse than the Slytherin common room," Molly Weasley suddenly said to her husband, her food barely touched at all.

"Which – ?"

"Fred and George, Arthur," Molly sighed exasperated.

"How do they – ?"

"Know?" she finished the question for him. "I think it's quite easy to imagine how they know, Arthur!"

Mr Weasley chuckled while shaking his head.

"How is it?" he asked his sons while pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice. Fred and George grinned at their father. Molly pursed her lips in fake-disapproval. Ron hid a smile. Ginny looked up at their brothers curiously.

"It's all green and dark since their common room is under the lake," Fred explained eagerly.

"And the entrance is down in the dungeons," added George while slicing a rather big piece of steak.

"Yeah, it's pretty horrible," Sirius Black commented with his mouth full. "Creepy and full of snakes."

All eyes turned to him at once.

"You were a Slytherin?" Fred asked him wearily, a slight trace of contempt in his voice.

Sirius stared at the twin, visibly offended. Fred paled. Even though Professor Lupin had explained to all of them earlier how Black had always been innocent, he still thought the ex-convict looked rather scary.

From the other end of the table Remus Lupin let out a diverted chuckle.

"What's so funny, Remus?" Sirius asked.

"Your reaction to that particular topic hasn't changed a bit in all these years, Sirius!" said Remus amusedly. "Don't frighten Fred, for goodness' sake. He only asked you a question."

"I've never been a Slytherin," Sirius muttered in a low voice.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"What house were you in, then, Sirius?" asked Ginny curiously.

Sirius looked at her mortified. "Gryffindor, of course!" he exclaimed exasperated.

Arthur and Molly shared a laugh. "I remember when my Mother told me the rumours about you a year after I finished Hogwarts, the only Black sorted in Gryffindor," said Molly reminiscently. "It was a shock when you were arrested, really. I knew you'd been friends with my brothers."

"Yeah, 'cause I was innocent," growled Sirius.

"Wormtail fooled us all, Padfoot," Remus said wearily. "He was cleverer than us for once."

"I wish we'd never been his friends, Moony," said Sirius. "Then Prongs and Lily would have be here with us right now."

Fred and George stared at both of them transfixed.

"You're Moony?" George asked weakly looking at Remus.

"And you're Padfoot?" Fred voiced in wonder, eyeing Sirius in a new light.

Remus and Sirius nodded in surprise.

"And – and Wormtail is Pettigrew?" continued George.

"Hang on," Fred guessed with a maniacal grin. "Does that mean that Prongs was Harry's Dad?"

Sirius and Remus nodded once more yet looked at them slightly worried. Ron burst out laughing having connected the dots.

"Fred and George were the ones who gave Harry the Marauder's Map," he explained to the two friends. "Harry, Hermione and I never told them who the Marauders really were," said Ron complacently. Looking at the blank-faced twins, he stifled another laugh. "They're in shock," he added.

"Can anyone explain what you're all talking about?" asked Ginny annoyed. Molly and Arthur nodded in agreement.

"Sirius, James, Pettigrew and I were more or less the bane of all Hogwarts Professors while we were attending," Remus explained with a smile. "We liked to explore the castle and do all sorts of things, so we ended up drawing up a map of the castle signed with our nicknames which, I don't know how, came into Fred and George's possession."

"We nicked it from Filch's office in our first year," explained Fred eagerly. "George and I have always admired you from that moment. You were our inspiration!"

Sirius grinned satisfied while Remus shook his head. "I'm sorry Molly... Arthur," he apologised half-smiling.

"Well," said Molly with a sigh. "At least I can now give myself a reason for all the Hogwarts letters I got because of these two!"

Everyone burst out laughing at her words.

... the End ...


End file.
